Not Knitting Much

Today, I:

• had a cup of instant cocoa with a teaspoon of instant coffee for breakfast;
• had the same, sans coffee, for lunch;
• am being very bad, but hey! It's not Spam.

Discussion of the aforementioned Spam lately has caused a friend of mine to threaten to draw a comic chronicling the hunt and capture of the elusive animal that is Spam. I will let you know if anything comes of it.

Knitting

Yep, I am. Well, sort of. I am slacking in the knitting department. I have two socks hanging around, pining for my attention.

First, we have the Child's First Sock in Shell Pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks that I have been making for forever:

(This is the second sock, thank goodness!)

And second, the Gentleman's Fancy Socks from the same book:

This, would you believe, is a boyfriend sock. It's all a kind of odd circumstance kind of thing, but suffice to say, I am making this with a resolable foot because I am feeling optimistic that I'll be around to see the holes start to form. There are those that say you can't revisit your past, but I'm starting to figure out that that isn't quite true.

And I finished a sock before all this knitting inertia began!

However, the picture will not load.

What, you may wonder, have I been doing if I am not knitting much?

Well, crocheting, of course.

My indiscrimate palate

Today, I:

• had #20 to go from Jack-in-the-Box for breakfast;
• had what I believe was #6 for lunch;
• am drinking a soda, and a lot of tea with creamer;
• am reconsidering my eating habits of late, including my utter and obvious failure to go vegan.

The only explanation that I can really find for my inability to avoid animal products at this juncture is that I am up to my neck in a kind of therapeutic, culinary hedonism. Therapeutic, I say, because it couldn’t just be plain caving in to cravings and whims. No, indeedy. I have, to my horror, bought and eaten beef within the past month. Twice! And then I spent a half hour searching the Berkeley Bowl near my apartment for the right kind of dry Italian salami. Which I ate most of in one sitting.

So, stomachaches are abounding. Ten plus years of pseudo-vegetarianism does not prepare one for binging on some top-notch imported salami, nor fast food, even if it is chicken for the most part. I am not kidding. Despite the occasional bacon binge, and the fairly steady stream of fish and chips and grilled salmon I ate over the years, my tummy is spoiled. It expects a certain amount of non-processed foods, not too much salt or sugar, and a fair amount of raw carrots. (The latter of which, it is still getting, for the most part.) It can not handle Spam. I know this for a fact.

Spam? you say. Well, yes. Spam. I am revisiting my past, I am sorry to say, through my taste buds. My mother was married to a Filipino when I was a teenager (See: Sibling #5 & #7. ) and as a consequence I was exposed to a whole range of food choices I would have otherwise have missed out on*, like purple cake, pig’s blood sauce, crunchy embryonic ducks and Spam. (Spam was the only thing I missed other than the cake.) So I fried me up some Spam just like in the good old days, and after two pieces (thank goodness I bought the small can!) I was ready to lie down on the floor. I’m not really sure what’s in Spam. I should look at the label, but right now, I’m suspecting it preserved with lye or saltpeter or something like that.

I think I am just about out of this phase. I’d forgotten how much speculating I had to do when I ate meat on a regular basis, way back when – how much discrete (or not so discrete) spitting out and examining of strange, inconsistent textures I had done. I’m having to do that again, and I am having far too many moments where I am simultaneously thinking “yummy/gross.” It reminds me of one of the things I read in a cookbook when I was eighteen and teaching myself to cook atop my dad’s Franklin stove about how it’s important to chop and trim things up in a uniform manner so that your guests eating the dish are not put off by any inconsistencies. It’s easy to forget when it’s carrots or something you’re chopping up, but quite another matter if the odd bit might be… gristle.

*If it hadn't been for this marriage, I would have only been exposed to Samoan food, American food, and Philippine food in an incidental way... such as that time when I was twelve and I accidentally ate dog in the South Pacific. (It wasn't bad.)

Mug Cozy

In a bought of impulse buying, I ordered the KnitPicks Renaissance Sampler. I'm pretty happy with it so far. It was a real toss-up which sampler to get - since they come with patterns to test out the yarn, it was a choice not only between a color scheme but what to make with them - and the Renaissance Sampler won out mainly because of this cozy. (Sorry if this picture induces vertigo. I was trying to take an interesting angle, and I may have succeeded too well.) I liked this pattern and the yarn, Main Line, although cabling with it hurt my hands a little.

Some greenery

I went back to my home town for the Fourth of July weekend for some nostalgia, dropping in on family, and of course, skinny dipping. It's hard to believe that it had been almost eight years since I had last been swimming, and over ten years since I had owned a bathing suit. But I managed. Somehow.

My camera is having issues with it's memory card, so I was unable to take as many pictures as i would have liked. I had to therefore focus: quality, not quantity. I'm not very practiced at photographing things, so the quality has has to be in the area of the subject, rather than the photo itself.

I took a lot of photos of my dad's jungle - I mean, back yard:This is the fence he built to annoy his neighbor. We both agreed it had a pleasing, artistic, rustic effect. (Keep in mind, this is Northern California, not L.A. We do pleasing rustic.)
My dad's pond, which I believe is an old tank he welded in half and implanted in the ground. He used to have goldfish in it but the skunks kept eating them. You know how it is.
If you look closely in the center of this photo, under one of the leaves of grass that comes across the photo from the right, you can just barely see my dad's toad eying me suspiciously from beneath a leaf on the other side of the pond. My dad says he came to the pond as polliwog and stuck around. This toad is about the size of my fist, and he was determined to wait me out.
Birdhouse and rambling roses. Mendocino County has a lot of rambling roses, and so does my dad's yard.

The well. With a redwood burl on top of it for some reason. This was the least of the mysteries of the labyrinth that is my dad's yard. Mine is not to reason why, but merely ask where he got these things and what it's called.

For instance, I have no idea what the object in the background is. A stump? A disintegrating dishwasher? I have no idea.
This, however, I can identify. Nature's Toilet Paper, a.k.a. a thimbleberry bush, which is not under any circumstances (or at least, it is to be fervently hoped) to be confused with the stinging nettle, a plant which has the unfortunate tendency to grow with thimbleberries. Thimbleberry leaves are large and have a pleasing peach-fuzz texture. Stinging nettles do not.

Last, but not least, we have rocks and old bottles.

This is just the tip of the iceberg as far as collecting goes in my dad's house, and evidence once again of the importance of a convenient LYS. If my dad knit, this could have been yarn.

Gratuitous Cat Photo

Need I say any more? :P

Hex Scrap Afghan

This is an afghan I have been working on using vintage yarn oddballs I got from my grandmother and grand aunt. I noticed there was a bit of interest in it over at Ravelry, so I've decided to post my recipe here. I apologize beforehand on my garbled instructions!

Hex Scrap Afghan


Yarn and equipment
I used worsted and aran weight yarn for this project on an H/5 mm hook, and sometimes doubled sports weight yarns. It’s all a matter of preference – whatever works for you!

A NOTE ON COLOR: I had a loose color strategy with this afghan that you might find useful. It was based on two points: #1 was to use no white or cream. #2 was to use one color that really popped in each hex, and mixing it with colors similar but not as obnoxious as it to make it blend. For example, neon pink went between orange or red sometimes, or brown, etc. This meant that I could use all the CalTrans Orange and chartreuse 1970's yarn I had without being blinded by the end result. :)

Abbreviations:
Ch = chain
Sl = slip stitch
Dc = double crochet
St = stitch

Basic Hex:

Set-up: Chain 6, join with sl to make circle, careful not to twist.

Row 1: Chain 4 (3 ch = 1 dc, + ch1), *dc in next st, ch 1, repeat from* 11 times, sl into the 3rd ch st of the chain 4 made to begin the row. This should look like a wagon wheel. Cut yarn and change color.

Row 2: Join new yarn at a “ch 1” in preferred method. (I like to do a sl where I pull the yarn end through the stitch so that I can secure it by crocheting over it with the next couple stitches.) After joining yarn, ch 3, dc into same space (makes 2 dc), 2 dc into following st, chain 2, *2 dc into next st, 2 dc into next stitch, ch 2, repeat from * until you have six ch 2 spaces, sl into the top of the ch 3 you began the row with. Cut yarn and change color.

Row 3: Join yarn at a “ch 2” space, ch 3, then work 3 dc’s between it and the next “ch 2” space, 1 dc into “ch 2” space, ch 2, *1 dc into “ch 2” space, work 3 dc’s between it and the next “ch 2” space, 1 dc into “ch 2” space, ch 2, repeat from * until you have six “ch 2” spaces. Cut yarn and change color again.

And from there its basically Row 3 over and over again with 2 dc’s added between the “ch 2” spaces for each following row. For instance, Row 4 has 5 dc’s, Row 5 has 7 dc’s, etc. I stop alternating colors at Row 4 and make Row 5 my background color (black). Then I mattress stitch it all together.

I hope this isn’t too confusing - I've just tossed these instructions together. Let me know if you need clarification.

Still not dead

Despite the evidence to the contrary. Really. I am still on this earth.

I have been busy, busy, busy! But no photos for you just yet. I am packing to move again - this time only a couple of blocks - into my first apartment.

Technically, I've had apartments before, but this one I will be flying solo with in areas not just in the financial strata. This is my own. I can decorate in extremely bad taste if I want; I can leave the dishes in the sink overnight without fearing repercussions of the chiding kind the next day; I can, glory be! walk around naked and hog the fridge and bathroom. (Although, possibly not at the same time...?)

To celebrate, I am going vegan again!

Yes! I am a wildwoman.

Life is very peculiar

That is today's understatement.

Yesterday, I:

• got dressed only for the sake of not freaking out people at the grocery store;
• realized I've caught something like the flu;
• slept;
• slept;
• slept;
• ate a bowl of rice in veggie bouillon;
• drank a cup of green tea and a cup of orange juice, as well as a lot of mineral water;
• ate a little sushi;
• laid in the dark on the phone a lot.

Well, the recipient of the beanie liked it, but he did not tell me. He told everyone we knew. I don't know how to take that, and I don't really care, actually.  It was only a couple hours of work, which is nothing compared to what I am about to experience with my grandpa's sweater. 

It is already too small. And the gauge is too tight. Which means that although I have knit the back down to the bottom of the armholes and started the front, I need to start over. 

OK. Deep breath. I can do it, yesindeedy. Just as soon as I have enough energy to bother to brush my hair.

My decadent holiday

New Year's Eve, I:

• ate half a bean and rice burrito with a tamarind soda in the Castro;
• ate a lot of vegan finger food involving toast and garbanzo beans at a party;
• consumed a considerable quantity of baby carrots at aforementioned party;
• and some excellent "rum balls", whatever they were;
• drank about two vodka tonics, and some rum/ fruit juice Puerto Rican cocktail;
• wore a feather in my hair.

New Year's Day, I:

• ate curly fries in a 24 hour diner in SF at around 4 AM;
• spent an hour and a half in the Mission waiting for the BART to open;
• froze my ass off;
• found out it would be two more hours before BART would open;
• took a cab home;
• slept;
• had massive amounts of Thai hangover food. Yum.

Yesterday, I:

• had a bowl of oatmeal and black coffee for breakfast;
• ate some vegetarian pot stickers, steamed buns, and green onion pancakes at a Japanese tea house in Berkeley;
• shared a bread pudding at a chi chi restaurant;
• ate half a pomegranate that I got from my grandpa's tree;
• had fried rice and, umm, canned roasted eel with green olives;
• drank two vodka tonics and two cranberry tonics;
• ate a piece of bread and went to bed.

Come to think of it, not much about my habits has really changed...

Swatching

I did a quick swatch of my grandpa's yarn. He doesn't know the breed of the sheep, just that it's some kind of Scottish animal known for fine soft wool. He says if I show him pictures of Scottish sheep he could pinpoint it. I don't know if it will come down to that.

It really is soft wool. I washed but didn't block the swatch. The cables I worked were nothing fancy or final - just half of a Saxon Braid and a lame left twist cable. I'm just trying to determine a general gauge. US #4 needles feel just about right so far.

Soon, I will have photos of some fingerless gloves.

What I Eat

It may be worth while to start posting what I eat again because, well, my habits have changed now that I am single.

Today I:

• drank half a cup of reheated coffee;
• ate a small cheese quesadilla;
• and a small bowl of white rice with canned roasted eel and green olives (the kind put in martinis).

Conned again by the weak and aged

I spent Xmas visiting my grandpa at the hospital. He's 88, and apparently has very ironic luck, because he was speeding down the hall at my mom's and tripped on a carpet he made and broke his leg. A case of the revenge of the handicraft? Perhaps. (I can only hope that I live to be old enough for my knitting to attack me.)

So I'm visiting, hearing about his bladder and his violin making and his leg, just shooting the breeze, so to speak, when other relatives start talking about my knitting. (I guess it's hard not to, because I am covered in it.) Grandpa mentions the beautiful sweater I made him. (His adjective - I should have felt some kind of warning right then, but I was still unsuspecting. I've haven't been around Grandpa for about eight years, so I'd forgotten that he was wily.) My oldest brother immediately began angling for sweater, which I guess was a further distraction, because he's a big guy and that's a lot of knitting for me to think about. I managed to talk it down to some fingerless gloves, but while I was in the middle of doing that, my grandpa managed to get me to agree to make him another sweater out of some yarn he has. I was in the car already before it really sunk in.

Somehow, I had managed to agree to make an Aran sweater with a 48" chest out of unknown and unseen yarn that my grandpa has been hoarding for 25 years. (Do you see that "hoarding" link? That's worth a look.) Yesterday I was out at his house, trying to find the yarn. It wasn't easy. It wasn't easy even to find the bathroom. (Did I mention my family is a bit eccentric? Take a look at that "hoarding" link again, and then think about what happens if the person is crafty. Because Grandpa is crafty, in more ways than one.) I found a lot of yarn. Some of it dates back to the fifties or earlier. And I found the yarn in question.

I don't know what kind of wool this is. I'll have to ask Grandpa. But it was from a sheep he owned, and it was hand spun and plied. I think it's about Aran weight, fortunately, and frankly, it is awesome yarn. I hope it's enough.

Here's a blurry close-up:
I also scored a lot of other yarn, a ball winder, a rice cooker, vegetable steamer, vegetable chopper, hand held drink mixer, and a jar of olives. Because I was just skimming the surface of the Hoard. (Grandpa is a compulsive small appliance buyer.) I was a bit surprised there wasn't an airplane or something. (Do you think I'm kidding? Grandpa has a pilot's license. The last time we cleaned his house, my oldest brother scored a half-assembled ultralight.)

So stay tuned. I'm supposed to bring him the test swatch next weekend.

Hardly a surprise

You Are 80% Non Conformist

You are a pretty serious non conformist. You live a life hardly anyone understands. And while some may call you a freak, you're happy with who you are.

Are You a Nonconformist?

Skull and Hearts Sweater

I made this sweater over a moth ago, but I have never gotten so many comments on a sweater as I have on it. I'm finally getting around to showing it to you. (Of course, most of you have already seen it in person. Hello!) I have this nasty habit of knitting and crocheting for other people, which means that after a long bought of knitting I still have nothing to wear. I came up with the idea for this sweater when I was trying to think of something cute I could make for myself that would be quick. Hearts would have been a little TOO cute, so I threw in some Jolly Rogers I pirated from Hello Yarn.
It's knit top-down, with a yoke that turns into inset sleeves halfway down the armhole. Then it's just a basic hourglass-shaped sweater. Easy peasy. And cheap. It's Wool-Ease.

Camera phone to the rescue

So I am still missing my camera charger. But have no fear!I do still have the cat.
And some knitting. This is an afghan I'm making from a bag of acrylic odd-balls my grandma gave me a week ago when I was back home yet again. (It's so nearby!) Pretty virulent so far, eh? I kind of like it.
Fingerless mittens for one of my Philippina sisters. For the life of me, I can't figure out how to turn this picture around. Just turn your head 90 degrees to the right.
Yet another seaman's cap. This one is part of an insidious scheme of mine. Yes! This FO is an object of seduction. Or at least I hope it will be. (Does knitting get the guys? Maybe. It is merino, after all.)
And then here's me. I cut my hair.

A week or so ago...

I was in Chinaown. It's much lovelier in person.

Naturally

...the cord for charging my camera battery is in a box near Sacramento, in my brother's garage, along with my boxes of books and memorabilia and, yes, a whole lot of yarn. This of course means that although I have a lot to show... I have no pictures.

This is a disturbingly consistent, recurring theme here at Crisis of Praxis, which just goes to show you should be careful what you name your blog.

Knitting, crocheting, what-have-you
I've pirated the Jolly Roger from Hello Yarn and designed myself a pullover, knit up a headband from Vanna's Choice, made numerous scarves and fingerless mittens, and even crocheted a pair of slippers for an invalid friend that reproduce the slippers her grandmother made her. I also made a cosy for a personal massager, if you know what I mean. (And I think you do.)

Knitters
Geography and chance has thrown me into the midst of the knitters from Knit One One. I have bumped into them in a coffeehouse, encountered them at the book signing for Knit Knit, and then finally sat down with them at yet another coffeehouse to do some actual knitting. They're a lively and mixed bunch, but they have yet to prove to me their prowess in knitting while intoxicated like the North End Knitters. Time will tell if they measure up, or at least can fix their mistakes the next morning after a cup of strong coffee and some aspirin. In the meantime, they sure can knit while sober.

Patterns
Which reminds me. I have gotten my greedy little hands on a pattern from Emily Jan - the Blooming Bobble Bag. I saw this in a display case they have at a bakery and found it irresistible, despite the fact that I don't actually do clutch bags. I have yet to decide whether I will do a yarn substitution, what color I will use, etc.

Anyway
I am going to try to abscond with a friend's camera, so hopefully there will be photo evidence of my activities before the year is out. (The non-incriminating ones, that is.)

I got your post right here, baby

Jeanette from the Purly Gate (A Knitter's Cult) has pointed out that the post I was promising her on Sunday did not in fact happen.

Well, woman, I am busy. I am in California. There are places to go, people to see, health food stores to get lost in, and long, sunny bike rides to take. I'm sure you'll understand. By the way, how's that snow in Boston?

Here's my home town about three weeks ago. This is one of the busy streets. Bungalows, oh how I have missed you! Inside of my grandma's house. Hi, Grandma!
The crocheted blanket on the bed in my grandma's guest room. She made it.

This is Cat, the Living Cat Mummy. Petting this cat is like petting a sticky muppet stuffed with bones. (What was that, Grandma? The cat's in the house? Yeah, well, this was before you woke up. I didn't know better. She acted like she came in the house every day.)

A view. Not as cold as it looks.
Another view. They've got a lot of it there.

And another view.

Sibling #6, slightly wet, at our mom's house.

Sibling #7, in a coffeehouse. It's the same one I went to.
Sibling #5? (Oh, no, I've lost count!) Well, anway, this is a sibling. And her baby, the one I have been knitting like a fiend for. He's actually a lot happier than he looks - he's not quite used to maniacal aunts pointing cameras at him.
Another sibling. She's feigning surprise. That camera doesn't have quick flash action, dammit.

And that's it for now.

First California Post

I have a lot of photos to show you, but I don't have them with me. This photo, however, I do have, because I took it with my cellphone last night. You are looking across the Bay to San Francisco. All in all, it could be worse.

Pictures!

Jeanette from over at the Purly Gates (A Knitting Cult) clued me in tonight on how to get my computer to upload pictures without going kaboom on me. So, now I have pictures for you!

My maternal grandfather has been diagnosed with prostrate cancer. There's not much I can do about that. However, I can knit him a sweater, since I think he's still got a winter left in which to wear it. Pattern: My own, largely helped along by the Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns.

Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease worsted in Chestnut Heather

Gauge: 20s = 4"/10 cm on size US 8/5 mm straight needles

Size: 46"-48" chest

I wanted to make my grandpa a basic pullover that would be easy to care for since he's sick. I added Horseshoe Cables because 1) it's more interesting for me to knit, 2) it impresses more than stockingette, and 3) I think Horseshoe Cables are the cat's meow. But let me tell you, after a month and half of making them, I am about Horseshoed out. Did you see the size on that thing? My grandpa wears and extra large - that was all the information I was given, so who knows if the thing will fit - but I found a chart for American Standard Clothing Sizes for men's sweaters and worked from that. This sweater has a 46"-48" chest, depending on how you pull on it. I have a 33" chest. It was like making two sweaters. (I am sooo not dating a big man when I move to California.)

I like how my ribbing lined up at the center front of the collar:

But this isn't all I've been making. Here's the jacket that goes with the garter stitch hat I made for my nephew:

Pattern: Garter Stitch Jacket from Debbie Bliss' The Baby Knits Book

Yarn: KnitPicks Swish Superwash in "Sand Dune"

I really like how this turned out. However, I can't help wondering how much use a 6 month old baby can get out of pockets...

There's a lot more, but I can't remember how to link to the sites where I got the patterns, so it'll have to wait a bit.

STILL not dead, folks!

I admit, however, that I have been somewhat lax as of late in regards to posting in a timely manner. Hmmm.

Well, here I am. But not for long. I am intending to keep this blog up - that is, I actually intend to post more than once every four months from now on - but I am moving. Far, far, away from Boston, to that distant land called California, where, as far as I'm concerned (due to my upbringing, I'm afraid) the only relatively normal people on the planet live.

That's right - I am returning to the bossom of my family! Where I can get a latte nearly anywhere, experience some serious fog, and get my bus delayed by gay rights parades! I can't wait! Home, home, home! Cheap artichokes and French bread, here I come!

My new computer won't let me upload photos onto Blogger, so although I have plenty for you, I can't post them. But stay tuned! Before November is through, I will be in California, where I am use somebody else's computer for my nefarious knitblogging activities.